Bondi speaks out after ouster, still may have to testify before Congress



President Donald Trump politely kicked Pam Bondi to the curb on Thursday, touting her as a "Great American Patriot" and crediting her with "overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country" during her nearly 14 months on the job.

Hours after Trump publicized the ouster and named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the acting attorney general, Bondi took a page out of ex-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's book, expressing her gratitude to the president and framing her time at the Justice Department in positive terms.

"Leading President Trump’s historic and highly successful efforts to make America safer and more secure has been the honor of a lifetime, and easily the most consequential first year of the Department of Justice in American history," Bondi wrote on X.

'She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files.'

Bondi — criticized in recent months over her DOJ's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, her bizarre Epstein testimony, her suggestion that "hate speech" should be policed, and her perceived inefficacy and failure to prosecute the individuals who waged potentially illegal lawfare against Trump — echoed Trump's remark about the precipitous drop in crime over the past year.

A report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association comparing crime stats in 2025 to stats from the previous year found that homicides dropped nationally by 19.3%; rapes dropped by nearly 9%; robberies dropped by 19.8%; and aggravated assault dropped by 9.7%.

RELATED: If the Justice Department won’t execute Trump’s orders, who’s in charge?

Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

"Since February 2025, we have secured the lowest murder rate in 125 years, secured first-ever terrorism convictions against members of Antifa, shattered domestic and transnational gangs across the country, taken custody of more than 90 key cartel figures, and won 24 favorable rulings at the Supreme Court," wrote Bondi.

Bondi added, "I remain eternally grateful for the trust that President Trump placed in me to Make America Safe Again."

Although Bondi noted that she is "moving to an important private sector role," she still may have to answer for actions taken while serving as attorney general.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted last month to subpoena Bondi on the release of the Epstein files.

Democrats on the committee emphasized in a joint statement on Thursday that Bondi "will not escape accountability and remains legally obligated to appear before our Committee under oath. She must answer for her mishandling of the Epstein files and the special treatment she has given Ghislaine Maxwell."

The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Robert Garcia (Calif.), tweeted, "Pam Bondi and Donald Trump may think her firing gets her out of testifying to the Oversight Committee. They are wrong — and we look forward to hearing from her under oath."

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) wrote, "My subpoena still stands. When the Oversight Committee moved to subpoena Bondi, I did it by name, not by or not as the sitting Attorney General of the U.S."

Around the time the subpoena was issued, Mace stated, "AG Bondi claims the DOJ has released all of the Epstein files. The record is clear: they have not. The Epstein case is one of the greatest cover-ups in American history. His global sex trafficking network is larger than what is being revealed. Three million documents have been released, and we still don't have the full truth. Videos are missing. Audio is missing. Logs are missing. There are millions more documents out there. We want to know why the DOJ is more focused on shielding the powerful than delivering justice."

Citing people familiar with the discussions between Bondi and the committee, the New York Times reported that Bondi has not yet committed to appearing for her scheduled April 14 deposition.

Todd Blanche said in a statement that Bondi "led this Department with strength and conviction" and that the DOJ will "continue backing the blue, enforcing the law, and doing everything in our power to keep America safe."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

‘Potentially Materially Inadequate Disclosure’ on Harvard’s $675 Million Bond Offering Prompts ‘Anti-Fraud’ Warning

The disclosure to potential investors in documents for Harvard’s planned new $675 million tax-exempt bond offering doesn't give enough warning about the risks, a watchdog group says.

The post ‘Potentially Materially Inadequate Disclosure’ on Harvard’s $675 Million Bond Offering Prompts ‘Anti-Fraud’ Warning appeared first on .

At-large Azerbaijani national accused of massive $90 million health care scam in California



A foreign national, who may have entered the United States illegally, is charged with orchestrating an alleged multimillion-dollar health care fraud scheme.

Anar Rustamov, a 38-year-old man from Azerbaijan who previously lived in Sunnyvale, California, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Thursday for allegedly submitting $90 million in bogus medical equipment claims.

'Fraudsters are depriving vulnerable citizens of basic social services and stealing billions of your tax dollars, and bringing them to justice is exactly the kind of work we expect from the task force.'

The Department of Justice described the alleged scheme as “large-scale fraud targeting federal health care funds distributed through the Medicare Advantage program.” The agency stated that it “appears” Rustamov illegally entered the U.S.

Rustamov executed the alleged fraud through an entity that he created, according to the indictment. From October 2024 through June 2025, he allegedly submitted thousands of false claims to Medicare Advantage Organizations offering Medicare Part C benefit plans. The claims were submitted on behalf of unsuspecting beneficiaries for medical equipment, including blood glucose monitors and orthotic braces, the indictment stated.

The defendant hired a company to assist with registering his California corporation in 2024, according to court records. He leased office space, though it was “not a legitimate” Durable Medical Equipment provider office but was “used as a façade to receive mail,” the court filings read.

Rustamov allegedly sought over $90 million in bogus reimbursements for equipment that was neither provided, needed by patients, nor authorized by a medical provider.

RELATED: Haitian fraudster gets comeuppance from Trump judge

J. David Ake/Getty Images

Court filings revealed that Rustamov allegedly received at least $648,000 from Medicare Part C insurers.

According to the DOJ’s Friday announcement, Rustamov remains at large. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 for each violation. He was indicted on 14 charges, including health care fraud, aiding and abetting, and laundering of money instruments.

United States Attorney Craig Missakian, who announced the charges, stated, “When the administration declared a war on fraud, it meant to target exactly this kind of conduct. Rustamov participated in a scheme to steal nearly $100 million in taxpayer funds from a program intended to help those who truly need medical care.”

“Anyone who believes they can make easy money by defrauding such programs should know that we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify, investigate, and prosecute such fraud and abuse,” Missakian added.

RELATED: 'Minnesota was big but California is even bigger': Nick Shirley uncovers staggering alleged fraud right under Newsom's nose

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

In mid-March, President Donald Trump established the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud to advise the president and coordinate efforts to combat widespread fraud, waste, and abuse of federal benefits. Vice President JD Vance serves as the task force’s vice chairman.

A spokesperson for Vance told Blaze News, “Fraudsters are depriving vulnerable citizens of basic social services and stealing billions of your tax dollars, and bringing them to justice is exactly the kind of work we expect from the task force.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

If the Justice Department won’t execute Trump’s orders, who’s in charge?



The wounds of Biden-era weaponization still ache. Many patriots still live with financial ruin, reputational damage, and cancellation campaigns stemming from the Biden-era Department of Justice. President Trump’s Department of Justice could do much more to make things right. It hasn’t.

Millions happily voted for Trump because he promised to de-weaponize government and restore election integrity. That mandate remains unfulfilled. He risks losing some of his strongest supporters, who may disengage on the country’s biggest fights — or sit out the midterms entirely — because they fear the cycle will repeat. We’re heading into another pivotal election season on a tilted field, without even fielding a full team.

Not everyone inside the Justice Department agrees with the president’s decision to issue these pardons — and that disagreement is showing up as deliberate drift.

Nothing illustrates this failure more clearly than the case of the 2020 contingent electors. To this day, some continue to face charges for assembling slates of electors contingent on ongoing fraud investigations or litigation in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Preparing contingent slates for congressional consideration has long existed in American politics. The attempt by the Biden administration and allied prosecutors to treat a bipartisan practice dating back more than a century as criminal conduct represents weaponization at its purest.

In November, I wrote about the president’s historic pardons for individuals charged in state court for offenses tied to the 2020 election. A presidential pardon touching state proceedings is unusual, but the reasoning was straightforward: Conduct tied to a federal election implicated constitutionally protected activity, and the state prosecutions functioned as a cat’s paw for a broader, coordinated campaign. President Trump made the right call — legally, prudentially, and politically. “Leave no MAGA behind” should apply most of all to the people who took the greatest risks and paid the steepest price.

What happened next — or, more to the point, what didn’t — turned “unusual” into “bizarre.”

After the president issued the pardons late on a Sunday night in November 2025, the Department of Justice went silent. Outside of comments from pardon attorney Ed Martin, the department has said virtually nothing. When reporters asked for comment, the department even referred Axios back to the White House. In Washington, that translates to “not our problem.”

It should be their problem.

RELATED: Trump’s pardons expose the left’s vast lawfare machine

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Silence is bad enough. Inaction is worse. The government should be moving aggressively to shut down the remaining state proceedings and use the pardons as a lever to defeat prosecutions that collide with federal authority and constitutional protections. We know that approach can work because it already did: Shortly after the pardons, Georgia dropped its charges against President Trump, explicitly citing the complications the pardons created.

The more uncomfortable truth is that not everyone inside the Justice Department agrees with the president’s decision to issue these pardons — and that disagreement is showing up as deliberate drift.

We’ve seen the same dynamic elsewhere: President Trump declares Biden’s autopen commutations null and void, yet the government continues releasing violent felons under those questionable pardons. Lawyers can disagree. They cannot refuse to execute the president’s lawful directives.

If the Justice Department can’t deliver even basic follow-through on the low-hanging fruit, it becomes hard to believe it will ever deliver the more challenging outcomes. Over a year into the Trump administration, we should be talking about real accountability for weaponized actors and real relief for the people they targeted.

The accountability train needs to get back on track. The first step is simple: The Department of Justice should do what the president publicly ordered it to do.

Trump administration levels up war on woke Harvard over anti-Semitism failures



President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Harvard on Friday, accusing the Ivy League school of discrimination.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon posted a video on social media announcing the legal action. She claimed that Harvard tolerated “significant and onerous racial and ethnic abuse against Israeli and Jewish students on the campus in the wake of the horrific Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.”

'When institutions take taxpayer dollars, they accept a duty to protect civil rights.'

She noted that the school allowed "pro-Palestinian protests" to “take over” its campus, blocking Israeli and Jewish students from getting to class.

“Harvard has rules about how students should conduct themselves, but it relaxed those rules when it came to these particular protesters,” Dhillon stated.

“Every American university that takes federal funding must comply with federal law.”

The DOJ accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allowing anti-Semitic “mobs of students, faculty, and visitors” to assault, harass, and intimidate Jewish and Israeli students.

RELATED: Harvard posts deficit of over $110 million as funding feud with Trump continues to sting

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

“Since October 7, 2023, too many of our educational institutions have allowed anti-Semitism to flourish on campus — Harvard included,” Attorney General Pam Bondi stated. “Today’s litigation underscores the Trump administration’s commitment to demanding better from our nation’s schools and putting an end to discriminatory behavior that harms students.”

The DOJ noted that Harvard is slated to receive $2.6 billion in taxpayer funds under active grants from the Department of Health and Human Services.

RELATED: Former Clinton official to quit Harvard University position amid backlash for Epstein ties

JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP/Getty Images

“Every student deserves to learn without fear of harassment or exclusion,” Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said. “When institutions take taxpayer dollars, they accept a duty to protect civil rights. We hold Harvard accountable on the principle that anti-Semitism has no place in any program funded by the American people.”

In October, Harvard issued a financial report that showed a $113 million deficit for fiscal year 2025, marking its first operating loss since 2020. This report followed Trump’s decision to withhold federal research funding from the school after he claimed it “repeatedly” failed to address anti-Semitic harassment.

Harvard released a statement responding to the lawsuit.

“Harvard cares deeply about members of our Jewish and Israeli community and remains committed to ensuring they are embraced, respected, and can thrive on our campus,” the school said. “Our actions illustrate this. Harvard has taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of anti-Semitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies on campus. We also have enhanced training and education on anti-Semitism for students, faculty, and staff and launched programs to promote civil dialogue and respectful disagreement inside and outside the classroom. Harvard’s efforts demonstrate the very opposite of deliberate indifference.”

“We will continue to prioritize this important work and will defend the university against this lawsuit, which represents yet another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government,” the statement read.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Religious Liberty Commission Has Productive Meeting Without Loony Aging Beauty Queen Who Hijacked February Hearing To Bash Israel

The Department of Justice's Religious Liberty Commission convened for a productive hearing on Monday without dramatic and distracting interjections from Carrie Prejean Boller, the former beauty queen and sex tape star who was terminated from the body after using a hearing last month to bash Israel.

The post Religious Liberty Commission Has Productive Meeting Without Loony Aging Beauty Queen Who Hijacked February Hearing To Bash Israel appeared first on .

Deep State Has Faced Zero Accountability For A Decade Of Spying On Team Trump

Across a decade, not a single senior official has faced criminal accountability, or in many cases any accountability at all.

Bondi hails ‘huge’ win in Chicago after federal judge placed restrictions on ICE agents



President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security scored a significant legal win on Thursday regarding its immigration enforcement surge.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched Operation Midway Blitz in September, intending to target criminal illegal aliens hiding behind sanctuary policies in Chicago, Illinois.

'President Trump is trying to protect American citizens while local elected officials REFUSE to do so.'

The following month, organizations representing journalists and residents filed a complaint against the Trump administration, accusing federal agents of responding to the protesters "with a pattern of extreme brutality in a concerted and ongoing effort to silence the press and civilians."

The plaintiffs claimed that federal agents had "injured and sickened" civilians and the press through the use of force and tear gas.

"The officers are not physically threatened," the complaint read.

The lawsuit requested that the court prevent federal agents from continuing to use alleged "unconstitutional tactics."

RELATED: Ramming attacks on ICE spike, endangering agents as Democrats continue to spew hateful rhetoric

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

In November, a federal judge in Chicago issued a broad injunction in response to the complaint, placing restrictions on the use of force.

"The use of force shocks the conscience," U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis stated.

The Department of Homeland Security appealed the federal judge's ruling, calling the injunction "an extreme act by an activist judge that risks the lives and livelihoods of law enforcement officers."

On Thursday, the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to lift the injunction, claiming that the lower court had "granted an overbroad, constitutionally suspect injunction."

Attorney General Pam Bondi called the appeals court's decision "a huge legal win" for Trump.

"President Trump is trying to protect American citizens while local elected officials REFUSE to do so. @thejusticedept attorneys were proud to argue this case. We will continue fighting and WINNING for the President's law-and-order agenda," Bondi wrote in a post on X.

RELATED: Anti-ICE mob turns hostile, breaching barriers outside detention facility — several officers injured

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The plaintiffs previously requested that Ellis dismiss the case after the operation had wound down. The judge granted that motion in January.

The appeals court was critical of Ellis' decision to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice, stating that "any class members or the lead plaintiffs could refile these claims tomorrow."

"They could ask the district court to reinstate a near-identical preliminary injunction, adopting the facts and legal reasoning from the district court's order," the majority wrote, adding that they could "help avoid that pitfall by vacating the order that depends on these conclusions."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Illegal alien allegedly voted in 2024 federal election, when Trump and Kamala were on the ballot



An illegal alien residing in Philadelphia has been charged with unlawfully voting in the 2024 general election, when Republican candidate Donald Trump was running against then-Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Department of Justice announced on Thursday the criminal charges and the arrest of Mahady Sacko, 50.

'Illegal aliens ARE registering to vote in Pennsylvania.'

Sacko, who entered the U.S. in 1998, was previously ordered deported in 2000 but remained in the United States.

He allegedly falsely represented himself as a U.S. citizen to register to vote and cast a ballot in federal elections, after initially registering in January 2005.

Sacko also voted in in federal elections in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020, according the criminal complaint shared by Fox News Digital.

Voting records indicated that Sacko registered as a Democrat, the Philadelphia Inquirer stated.

Sacko, who is from Mauritania, now faces up to five years in prison for his alleged crimes.

RELATED: Jasmine Crockett claims voters were 'disenfranchised' following crushing defeat in key Texas primary

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Sacko in 2007. ICE attempted to deport him, but his Mauritanian passport had expired, and the agency could not obtain one for him. Unable to return Sacko to his home country, he was released from ICE custody and ordered to check in with the agency.

“Sacko voted in person for each of these elections, except for the 2020 primary election, in which he voted by mail. On each occasion, Sacko falsely represented that he was a U.S. citizen,” an FBI special agent wrote in the criminal complaint.

RELATED: ‘Turnaround for the ages’: Trump boasts victory at the southern border — 0 illegal aliens entered in 9 months

Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images

Conservative activist Scott Presler reacted to the news of Sacko’s arrest.

“The DOJ just indicted an illegal alien for voting in the 2024 election in Pennsylvania,” Presler wrote in a post on social media. “I went a step further & discovered that he’s registered as a democrat in Philadelphia. We have proof. Illegal aliens ARE registering to vote in Pennsylvania.”

“We are getting the data for the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania voter rolls before the Department of State does a massive purge,” Presler wrote in a subsequent post. “Now, we know what to look for!”

Sacko’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Michigan’s Dirty And Dead-Ridden Voter Rolls Escape Scrutiny

The Supreme Court this week passed on a watchdog's request to review lower court decisions finding Michigan's voter list clean enough.